Recently i was listening to this song "rusted heroes" by slash's snakepit... and throughout the song, slash used slide to make some really cool riffs and a pretty catchy solo... so i was just wondering why is this exotic technique ignored so much, another song that just came to my mind is "seven nation army" ...the solo is made with slide yet again!!.. so i did some research on the web and after learning a few basics...i found that this technique is not really that difficult!. so i though i'll just post a few tips for the pros..hoping that this will add another dimension to your abilities.. The Tuning: since the slide is used across the open strings so it forms a sort of a barre... and the tunings that i found useful were Open E... it goes like "E B E G# B E" and D ..... it goes like "D A D F# A D" personally i liked open E ... cuz it gave me a sharp sound at 4th string. The slide: i hoped down to the local music store and found three types of slides... metal glass ceramic i tried each one of them on a fender tele, and this is what i found metal: difficult to control and produces a lots of buzzing, but gives incredible sound as if the guitar is screaming. glass: easy to control, gives very positive attack, good sustain and a glassy smooth tone (especially when doin the slides) ceramic: a bit heavy and a bit fidely but gives a creamy smoot tone but the sustain is a bit low. i brought with me the glass one... holding the slide: there are different opinions .. of how to hold a slide...some say say it should be worn on pinky finger...soem say the middle finger and some go for the 3rd finger... i found it easier to wear it on my middle finger cuz then i get my index finger to mute the unwanted strings..and the middle finger gives you much better control. what can it do for me?: well to start off with, it gives your music a certain feel and an emotional touch, it has its origin in blues music but it found its way into rock music because of its uniqueness. secondly it gives u ability to change octaves quicker than u can blink your eyes!!... with some practice i was able to do pretty cool tricks and come up with some really cool riffs. thirdly "freedom" you can forget the boundries of your fretboard!!...no need to restrict yourself to 22/24 frets or whateva.. you can go all the way and touch the sky hammer-on pull-offs: slide guitar, hammer-ons and pull-offs are done in combination with open strings only. Hammers are done by plucking an open string and lowering the damping finger and the slide onto the string (don’t use too much force or you’ll wind up fretting with the slide). Pulls can be done by plucking a closed note and pulling the slide and the tip of the damping finger laterally off the string. In other words, don’t lift the slide and the finger straight up-pull them off to the side, catching the string with the tip of the left index finger. Pulls are easiest from the first string, but they can be done from the others also. this is actually the article by glen wieser.. have left it as it is cuz i thought he can explain it better than me...and thats where i learned to do my pull-offs. what to begin with well try doing some old western numbers or play twelve bar blues...i did and they sound just fantastic!!! in a few days i'll post the chords for the open tunings as well happy sliding
Helpful thread shahrukh, guess you are the person who could answer my question about lead guitar in a thread that i have just posted. keep up the good work
Excellent post sharukh. ..and for those who dont know what slide guitar sounds like listen to Scar Tissues(RHCP) solo or the High Hopes solo(Floyd)
best slide guitarist ever was Dwayne Allman of the Allman Brothers Band and Derek and the Dominoes. In any case in regards to the metal slider there are two further versions, a steel slider and a copper slider.
if anyone wants to listen to a rip roaring solo listen to the original album version of Layla, the solo is Dwayne Allman with his slider
Any good slide tutorials for playing Slide on standard tuning. I checked out a couple of books but all of them talk about playing slide in open tunings. A lot of guys do play slide in open tuning too. Duanne Alman himself has played on standard tunings.
